Penn State ‘close’ to adding arena, Division I hockey – Altoona Mirror
BIG NEWS broke while I was out last week — Penn State is apparently very serious about adding men’s and women’s hockey. The reason — Terry Pegula, an alumnus who just sold natural gas concern Eastern Resources to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion, is apparently ready to make a big donation to get the program started up. There are reports of Pegula traveling with Tim Curley to tour hockey facilities at the universities of Minnesota and Notre Dame. David Jones of the Patriot-News saw Pegula with former Penn State hockey coach Joe Battista at the Big Ten meetings, but did not get to talk about any plans.

It sounds like a new arena seating something like 6,000 – 8,000 will be built. Batista told me in 2007 that retrofitting the Bryce Jordan Center was unlikely because it would mean shutting down the lucrative arena for several months. I think a standalone arena will be ideal and if they really want to pack them in, they can put a temporary rink in the BJC.

This would mean a Big Ten hockey conference could exist since there would be 6 D-I teams, but that is no sure thing. The Big Ten Network may be a catalyst to make it happen though.